No Rest
by s1ncer1ty
Summary: When Fili has to take an early shift and Kili is alone he finds it hard to sleep because he's so used to talking to his brother until he drifts off. But another dwarf notices his distress and takes it upon himself to help.


If only Kili could stop hearing his pulse drumming in his ears, he might conceivably get some sleep. The ground on which they'd camped out for the night was too hard, and he could feel the press of stones in his back even through the padding of his bedroll. The fire was just a tad too warm, but if he threw off his blankets, he grew chilled to the bone.

But mostly, it was just too quiet. With Fili ordered to keep sole watch for the next few hours, there would be no tales or idle conversation to drown out that incessant beating of his heart and to lull him into slumber.

"You know, lad, the more you fight it, the worse it'll be on you," came a voice from beside him. At some point while Kili had been tossing, trying to find that one spot on the ground that wasn't littered with rock, Bofur had quietly stolen over and crouched down beside him.

At first, Kili tried to ignore the other dwarf, turning away with a decided huff, but curiosity got the better of him, and he muttered in an irritated tone, "What are you doing awake, yourself?"

"Oh, I know a thing or two about not sleeping," said Bofur, taking a sip from a flask that glittered silver in the firelight. As Kili rolled over and sat up, keeping his covers drawn up over his knees, Bofur extended the flask.

Kili took a small sip and shuddered. "That's awful."

"The drink or the predicament in which we find ourselves?" the toymaker said with a smile as his flask was returned to half-gloved hands.

"Both," said Kili, his lips twisting in a grimace.

"Aye," he said, setting aside his flask and withdrawing a pipe from the inner pocket of his coat. "Why don't you tell me what's occupying your mind?"

Kili frowned and rubbed the back of his head, mussing his already-tousled hair further in the process. "Fili's got watch tonight."

Bofur's eyes twinkled in the firelight. "And the wee laddie misses his brother?"

"It's not like that!" snapped Kili. "It's just..."

"Go on," said Bofur as he concentrated on packing the bowl of his pipe with tobacco leaf.

"It's ... quiet," Kili said, a little begrudgingly. "Fili snores."

"If it's snoring that'll put you to sleep, then you should take your bedroll and curl up beside Dwalin."

"That's taking my life into my hands," muttered Kili with a roll of his eyes.

"Tell you what," Bofur said, leaning forward to catch a stray stick, which he used to light his pipe. "Why don't you get yourself comfortable again. 'Tis too nice a night to be up fretting over your brother."

"I'm not _fretting_ -"

"I'm not sayin' it like it's a bad thing. Look at Gloin over there," said Bofur, gesturing toward the sleeping dwarf with his pipe. "I have it on good authority that he stays awake thinking of his wife and wee son. He wonders if he's doing the right thing by joining this quest, leaving them behind when he knows he might never come home at all."

"That's understandable, though. I'm sure it can't be easy to be separated from them."

"And then there's Dori. You know he worries about little Ori, being so young and inexperienced. Ori, meanwhile, stays awake thinking of Nori. Is he saying the right things, and are they getting through? Has our little thief even noticed Ori's attempts to reconnect with his erstwhile brother?"

"And Nori?" asked Kili, stifling a yawn behind a hand.

"Well, they say there's no rest for the wicked. He's kept awake by all the wrong he's done in the past, as well as what he might yet do."

"I see," said Kili, stretching before lying back down upon his bedroll. He shifted closer, to rest his head against Bofur's thigh, and the other dwarf did not protest.

"Even Thorin has nights when he cannot find the arms of sleep. Trust me, lad, you're not the only one who lies awake with dark thoughts on dreamless nights."

"Keep talking. Tell me how you know all of this," said Kili, closing his eyes and snuggling up against the other dwarf, the way he would sometimes curl up practically on top of his brother, to feel the vibration of his voice rumble through his body as he spoke idly of the day behind them and of what he expected of the day yet to come. He wondered, in that moment, why it was each night Fili was always still awake and talking, even as Kili drifted off.

"As I said," Bofur said, blowing a smoke ring toward the fire, "sleepless nights and I are well-acquainted."

"And who do you worry about?"

Bofur was silent a moment as he looked down at Kili, too young to be plagued with the curse with which he was so familiar. Placing an arm on the lad's shoulder, he almost didn't answer. Finally, he whispered, "All of us."


End file.
